Data Site Criteria for Education

The DLESE Data Access Working Group (DAWG), building on work from the data, tool, visualization strand at the 2004 DLESE Annual meeting, has pulled together a provisional list of criteria for evaluating the educational effectiveness of data sites.

These criteria are appropriate for the broad range of data-related resources that support teaching about the Earth system but are not in themselves activities. These include but are not limited to data, data access portals, data visualization tools, data visualizations (including maps and images).models, model data and visualizations, data processing sites, data location sites. They employ a wide range of approaches to delivering information including different technologies for delivery and communication, different kinds of content and levels of data processing, and different approaches to describing and annotating their information

Data site allows curriculum developers to ascertain the quality of data and determine the impact of data quality on the certainty of their conclusions.

Information is provided about overall data collection, quality, reduction, and limitations. Data site includes sources of error and limitations of collection process as well as inaccuracies/ uncertainties from models/ particular choice of representations.

Information about accuracy of individual data sets/points/ analyses is provided

Data is provided in ways that facilitate manipulation through a variety of tools. This may include: